Who wants to be a Hunter?
by Red13Rabbit
Summary: Rook. 15. Taking the Hunter Exam for the fourth time. Does she want to be a Hunter? Not really. Does she want to meet the characters from one of her favorite animes? Absolutely! And she'll probably screw up all of the canon along the way. (OC reincarnated into the Hunter x Hunter world.)
1. Starting x Line

Beans observes the twelve other people in the cavern. Every year, he hands out the badges to the people taking the Hunter Exam. As such, he's the only person from the Hunter Association that routinely has contact with the Examinees. After so many years he had gotten very good at guessing which participants will pass and which will drop out early. He doesn't think the group in front of him stands much of a chance.

The ding of the elevator draws Beans out of his musing. He turns his attention to the doors as they slide open. A young girl steps out. Between her orange scarf and her bangs her face is almost completely hidden, and burn scars run from her hands to her elbows. Beans instantly recognizes her as a return participant who goes by Rook. She never puts a last name on her applications. Beans approaches her with his clipboard and a badge.

"Welcome to the Hunter exam," he greets. "We will let you know when it is time to begin. Here is your badge." He hands her the badge marked 13.

"Hmm." She takes the badge from him and nods in thanks. "Three hundred ninety two to go," she mumbles as she walks away.

Beans stares after her, wondering what she could mean by that. He has always found her strange, in a different way than the people who usually took the hunter exam.

He had first met her six years ago, the first time she showed up for the Exam. Beans had been surprised to see such a young kid make it to the exam site. The Association got hundreds of thousands of applicants every year so of course kids applied. Not many made it past the preliminary examiners and those that did were typically in their late teens. Rook had been nine. If he was honest, Beans had been worried. The Hunter Exam could be deadly after all. But he knew full well that appearances could be deceiving so he hadn't said anything. It was a good thing he didn't. She broke the arm of another examinee who commented on her age.

Turned out he didn't need to be worried in the end though. When the first examiner gave people the option to leave before they started, she had left. It was the first time Beans had ever seen someone actually leave of their own volition. There was almost always someone that got injured before the start or a rookie that one of the others got to. After that one participant though, none of the others had approached her. The Examiner had been surprised as well. When Beans told the Chairman the whole story, he fell out of his chair laughing. After he had recovered, he admitted that no one had willing left since he became chairman. Rook was definitely a strange one.

…

Rook runs her fingers through her hair. She cut it just a few days ago and now besides her bangs it stops just a couple inches from her head. It is so freeing not having to pull it back, but she still isn't used to it.

She turns her attention back to the crowd. The beginning of the Exam always makes for good people watching. She has a good vantage point standing on one of the pipes that run along the wall. It's easy to separate the new faces from the old. Of course even the newbies are familiar to her.

She sat in her brother's lap with headphones on. They sat in an office chair in front of the computer. Her eyes darted between the text at the bottom of the screen and the characters. She laughed at the difference between what was written and what was actually being said. A sudden bang from upstairs had her covering her mouth as Knight squeezed her to him.

She clenches her hand on her scarves as she pushes the memory away. Better not to get caught up in the past while surrounded by potential enemies.

Looking at the opposite wall, she spots Tonpa. He is sitting almost directly across from her with his gaze locked on the elevator doors. The Rookie Crusher has made a point to avoid her ever since she broke his arm. She chuckles thinking about the show a certain magician will be putting on soon.

Speaking of, her eyes scan the crowd and quickly land on the pervert clown himself. To some it may seem like he is sizing up the other examinees. To Rook it looks like he is deciding who he wants to kill and who he wants to fuck. He licks his lips and a shiver runs up Rook's spine. She averts her gaze.

Another creepy face draws her attention. Illumi, disguised of course. She's not sure if that's a good thing. She remembers his real appearance being pretty freaky with his soulless looking eyes, but the way he moves with all the pins in is so unnatural it sets her on edge. Of course that could also be because his focus never fully leaves his younger brother. Oh he does a good job of hiding it, and if Rook didn't already know their relation she never would have been able to spot it. His apparently aimless wandering never takes him to far from the white haired child.

Said child is currently not that far from where Rook is perched. He had gotten taller since she had last seen him. Killua was the first main character she had met and the only canon character she had met outside of the Hunter Exam. It had been so odd to see the nine year old at Heavens Arena. She hadn't been sure it was him until he had been called for his match. She had tried to avoid him for the most part. She didn't want to accidentally change the story before it truly got started. It had been unavoidable though when they faced each other in a match. It had been interesting. Afterwards, Killua had approached her. They had talked a few more times before Killua made it to the two hundredth floor and left.

The ding of the elevator draws everyone's attention. Out steps three people. A tall man in a suit, a blond in a blue shall, and a green clad kid. Rook pulls her scarf up over her mouth as she jumps to the ground. Now that the whole cast is here, it's time to begin.


	2. Rook x and x the x Rookie x Crusher

Beans checks off the three applicants that just arrived and notes their numbers. _Gon Frecces. 405. _He pauses for a second and does some quick math in his head. _Thirteen plus three hundred ninety two..._He checks the time. Less than half an hour before the exam starts. He continues walking, wondering if he should tell the chairman about this or not.

...

"This is my thirty fifth attempt. I guess you could say I'm a veteran Examinee," Tonpa tells the three newbies. They react with the expected shock. He can hear the two taller ones whispering about how many times he's failed. He ignores it. After all, he doesn't take the test to pass. "If you have any questions you can ask me. They call me-"

"Tonpa!" A voice calls, making him freeze. He knows that voice. He hates that voice. He turns to the girl coming his way. She wears the same outfit she wears for the exam every year. Large orange scarf and purple t-shirt with a copper shield on her back. Her badge is stuck to her scarf where the end hangs to her left. Tonpa cringes internally at the twinkle in her eyes and his smile becomes slightly strained.

"Rook. I see you made it here again," he says as she reaches them. He tries to remain friendly. He hasn't talked to her since the first year she showed was the first year in a while he had to skip the Exam. He can't help but think that someone had warned her about him.

"And I see you're helping the newbies again." She turns to the other three and studies them for a moment. Tonpa's smile becomes more strained as she does. Most return examinees that know about his reputation will keep it to themselves. Some can even be persuaded to help him for the right price. Despite their rough first meeting, Rook had never outed him before, but it was clear to Tonpa that she was up to something. "You know Tonpa," she says as she turns her attention back to him. He braces himself. "You might have passed by now if you weren't so focused on-helping others."

"Ha ha! You're probably right!" He laughs as he rubs the back of his head, acting embarrassed. _She's smirking. Even with that scarf covering her mouth it's clear she's smirking, _he thinks, frustrated. He hopes the rookies didn't catch her little pause.

"Hi! I'm Gon!" The green haired kid happily interrupts them. "This is Kurapika and Leorio!" He says indicating the blond and the glasses guy respectively. It's clear from the bright smile on Gon's face that he doesn't suspect anything. Leorio seems more focused on Rook than him, but Kurapika is giving him a suspicious look. _Damn it!_

"Rook," she says with a nod.

"So you've taken the test before too?" Gon asks excitedly.

"Yep! Four times. But plenty of people here have taken it way more. Tonpa can give you more details. He's practically an expert!" Tonpa is surprised at the seeming praise but hides it quickly. As the rookies give him their full attention once more he puffs up in a show of pride.

"That's right! Take 197 to 199." He gestures to the three. "The Amori brothers. They taken the exam twelve times before. They specialize in teamwork. Then there's 103, Bourbon the snake charmer. He's taken the exam about twenty times now, though not consecutively. He's a tenacious competitor and he can hold a grudge. Try not to get on his bad side. There's 246, Ponzu. I believe this is her tenth attempt. She uses a variety of chemical weapons, but her specialty is bees." He turns back to the rookies. "And that's just a handful of the people that have just barely missed the cut."

"AAaaaAAAAaaAaAaAaaaaAAAAGGGAaaaaggggghhagah!"

The blood curdling scream cuts through the noise in the cavern. Everyone turns to find the source. It's easy to find the screaming man as people give him a wide berth. The guys arms are disappearing right before their eyes, seemingly turning into sparkles and flower petals.

"Ah how curious." The voice sends a shiver up Tonpa's spine. Everyone shifts their attention to the speaker, number 44. "It seems this mans arms are turning into flower petals. You really should say sorry when you bump into someone." As the now armless man curls up on the ground the idle chatter starts up again, though at a lower volume than before.

"Great. He's back," Tonpa says, mostly to himself.

"You know that guy Tonpa?" Gon asks. Tonpa nods.

"Hisoka the magician. This is the second time he's here. He was thought to be a shoe in last year. Then he attacked an examiner he didn't agree with. Almost killed him."

"And they let him come back?!" Leorio asks in shock.

"They change the Examiners every year. The Examiners decide what the challenges are and who passes. Even the devil himself can become a Hunter if the Examiners allow it."

"Tck." Rook clicks her tongue. "Don't put all the blame on the Examiners. The application screening process is almost nonexistent."

"Eh?! What are you talking about?" Leorio asks pointing his finger at her accusingly. "We had to go through a lot of people and tests to get here!"

"That's the preliminary test," Rook states calmly. "I mean the screening process for applications. The first time I applied for the Exam, I was nine. All I put on the form was my name and age and they accepted it." She is met with three pairs of eyes wide with shock. Tonpa, while he didn't know the full story before, isn't really surprised.

"Wow!" Gon states before either of his companions recover. He is staring at her with wonder. "You took the Exam when you were nine?!"

"Course not Green Bean," Rook responds with a light chuckle. Leorio and Kurapika both relax. _They probably think she didn't even make it to the Exam site, _Tonpa thinks with amusement. "I'm not suicidal. I left before the Exam started. I was lucky I didn't run into anyone like that." She gestures in the direction of the incident that just occurred.

"Unfortunately there are a lot of people here like that. But don't worry. I can show you the ropes," Tonpa states, trying to steer the conversation back to where he wants it. He starts to rummage through his bag. "Hey what's say we," he pulls some cans out of his bag and starts handing them to the rookies, "drink a toast to friendship and luck!" He holds up his own can. Gon holds his can up as well and takes a drink.

"Why aren't you having any, Miss Rook?" Kurapika asks. Tonpa silently curses. He knows it looks suspicious that he didn't offer her any, but he didn't want to risk another broken arm.

"I never drink anything but water," Rook responds easily as she pulls a water bottle out from behind her. Tonpa nods like he knew that all along.

"Blegh!" Gon catches the attention of all four of them when he suddenly let all of his drink spill out of his mouth. "It tastes odd! I think it went bad or something!"

"O-oh! Is that so! Ha ha." Tonpa laughs nervously. _Damn. I really thought I had the kid at least. How the hell did he know? That laxative is supposed to be tasteless! _He turns to see the other two pouring their drinks out on the ground. Rook has her head turned and her mouth covered, but her shoulders are shaking slightly. Tonpa just knows she's laughing at him. "My deepest apologies!" He practically shouts as he bows he head and claps his hands together.

"It's okay Tonpa," Gon quickly forgives. "It's just lucky I drank first. Taste is an important forest survival skill, so my tongue is trained to detect anything off."

"Is that so. W-well I suspect the Exam will be starting soon. See you around!" Tonpa waves as he walks off. _Some more tough newbies, huh? _He smiles to himself. _This is going to be fun._

...

As Tonpa walks away, Rook can't hold back any longer. She bursts out laughing. Gon and Leorio look at her in confusion. Kurapika sighs.

"There was something in the drink, wasn't there?" Kurapika asks. Rook is laughing too hard to answer right away.

"What do you mean Kurapika?" Gon asks.

"Yeah! What are you talking about?" Leorio adds.

"Tonpa grew nervous as soon as Miss Rook approached. Even more so when she made a suspicious pause in her sentence. But the biggest tell was when he didn't offer her a drink," he explains to his friends.

"No need for the Miss," Rook says as her laughter dies down. "And you're right. The juice was laced with laxatives. The person you just met," Rook points her thumb after Tonpa, "is known as Tonpa the Rookie Crusher." Kurapika nods, seemingly satisfied. Gon scrunches his eyebrows, in confusion or concentration Rook isn't sure. Leorio, on the other hand, gets in Rook's face.

"Eh?!" Leorio exclaims. Rook glares at the finger he points at her that has twice now invaded her personal space. She reacts without thinking. "Why didn't you tell u-!"

_Clang! _Rooks water bottle hits the ground.

_Thud!_ Leorio hits the ground a second later.

She had just flipped him over her shoulder. She kneels practically on top of him, his arm held between her legs and his hand in a wrist lock. Gon and Kurapika move forward, presumably to try to help their friend, but a quick twist of her wrist makes them stop. Leorio's gasp of pain gets her point across nicely.

She slowly releases him and stands up, stepping away to give them some room. Gon and Kurapika help Leorio up.

"Are you okay?" Kurapika asks.

"Yeah," Leorio says, shaking his wrist out. "Just winded."

"What was that for?" Gon asks harshly. He hasn't stopped glaring at Rook. She picks up her water bottle from the ground and slips it in her bag.

"The Hunter Exam is deadly," she says, slowly, making sure she has their full attention. "Of all the people you see here, I'd say at least fifty of them will be dead before the exam is over." She looks at Kurapika, who holds her stare for several seconds before giving a slight nod. "If you can't make it past Tonpa on your own, then you're not going to last long." Leorio refuses to meet her eyes. "No one is going to take it easy on you here. Not the others Examinees. Not the Examiners." She matches Gons glare for a while, then turns away from the three. "Whatever reasons you have for being here, they aren't worth dying for."

"We aren't quitting," Gon practically growls at her. She glances over her shoulder at him. Her mouth twitches up in a smile they don't see.

"Didn't say you should." Her reply gets Gon to replace his glare with a look of confusion.

"But-"

"Nothing is worth dying for." _Survival comes first _Knight's voice echoes in her head. She fiddles with her cord bracelet. "But there are plenty of things worth working for."

BBBBBBbbbbbbBBBBRRrrrRRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrr

The ringing noise draws everyone's attention to the rising wall at the far end of the cavern.

"The Exam has started," Rook says.


End file.
